The World’s Fastest SUV? Lister’s Jaguar Aims to Claim the Crown

The big changes with the Lister LFP are under the skin, but it also looks the part.
Lister

By

Jim Motavalli

Sept. 19, 2018 3:36 p.m. ET

Lister, a British company with a long history in racing, is making that claim that its forthcoming LFP, based on the high-performance Jaguar F-Pace SVR, will be the fastest SUV ever built. To claim that crown, Lister plans to build a car that can surpass 200 mph, topping the 650-horsepower Lamborghini Urus (190 mph).

The LFP, the full details of which are forthcoming, will retain the Jaguar’s five-liter supercharged V-8, but tune it to a whopping 670 horsepower (from 550). It will go from zero to 60 in 3.5 seconds, compared to four seconds (and a top speed of 176 mph) in the standard SVR.

Selling supercars these days is all about the exclusivity, and only 250 LFPs will be built. The company hasn’t been specific about everything it plans to do to the SVR, but photos reveal new wheels and upgraded brakes with yellow calipers. It will also feature restyled bumpers, plus spoilers, side skirts, and yellow stripes on the front doors to complement the calipers.

In terms of SUV power, the LFP might be best compared to Jeep’s Grand Cherokee Trackhawk, which offers 707 horsepower, an identical 3.5-second zero to 60 time, and 11.6-second quarter miles. The Trackhawk’s $86,650 list price will also be hard to beat; the Lister LFP could cost more than $180,000.

The Lister company was founded in Cambridge, England, in 1954, and was extensively involved in building winning race cars in the 1950s and 60s—using Jaguar, Ford, and even Chevrolet Corvette power. After the company was sold in 1986, it began to produce performance versions of the Jaguar XJS (approximately 90 were built), and its own bespoke Lister Storm race car.

The Lister LFT-666, also revealed in September, is a Jaguar F-Type with 666 horsepower and 208-mph potential. A supercar successor to the Storm is reportedly under development, funded in part by the company’s Jaguar projects.

The Lister LFP is part of an expanding group of luxury SUVs. According to an Edmunds report released on Sept. 13, 62% percent of all luxury vehicles sold in 2018 to date have been SUVs. That’s an all-time high.

There are both up and downsides. The public has unprecedented SUV choice, but likely increased confusion about which model to buy. “Although flooding the market with SUVs from both legacy luxury and mainstream brands is proving a winning strategy for automakers, it’s also driving up prices of new vehicles overall and blurring the lines in the eyes of a car shopper of what truly make a vehicle ‘luxury,’” the report said.

The luxury market is on track for a near-record year, the report said, with 1.3 million vehicles in the category sold through August. That’s 11% of total auto and truck sales so far this year. The average luxury vehicle today sells for $54,627, compared to an average mainstream entry at $33,346 (though options can push the prices much higher). Smaller luxury SUVs have become a hot commodity, and for the 2019 model year, offerings include the Audi Q3, Cadillac XT4, and Lincoln Nautilus.

Automakers have traditionally differentiated their top models with more performance and better handling, but the report says that’s not a big selling point with SUV buyers, who value high-level content and luxury appointments more. As mainstream models gain more of this same content in their upper-trim levels, it blurs and diminishes the advantage of luxury nameplates.

The report concludes, “As we head into the heart of the 2019 model year, the luxury market is strong but at a crossroads. As luxury brands push into vehicle segments dominated by ever-more premium offerings from mainstream brands, they’re going to have to work harder to convince shoppers the brand cachet is worth paying extra for.”

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